freedom of information act

At last, although to almost no one's surprise, the U.S. government formally acknolwedged the existence of Area 51 and disclosed the location of the base in newly declassified CIA documents, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted nearly ten years ago by the National Security Archives' senior fellow Jeffrey T. Richelson. While there are no mentions of housing aliens, UFOs or other extraterrestrial artifacts, the documents do indicate that the base served as a testing ground for the military's aerial surveillance programs and equipments, including the world famous U-2 spy planes, essentially supporting what many UFO skeptics have speculated about the true identity of UFO sightings in the surrounding area.